Introduction
This is my translation of the story of Kotyhoroshko, an important folk fairy tail within Ukraine. It is a special story in that it is unique to Ukraine, rather than generically being Slavic. It is considered by Ukrainian folklorist Viktor Davidyuk (Віктор Давидюк) to be of great cultural significance.
Shout out to my Ukrainian tutor Ivan (https://x.com/watsobert) for his help with translating this- if you are looking to learn Ukrainian, I’d strongly recommend reaching out to him!
Kotyhoroshko
There once lived a man and a woman. With them were seven sons and one daughter.
Six of the sons went to the field to work. The youngest brother stayed at home.
The brothers went to the field and pulled the plough to make furrows so that their sister could find them when she brought them their lunch.
Near the field, in the forest, lived a serpent. He thought up an evil scheme: he covered the furrow that the brothers had made, and made a new one which led straight to his courtyard.
The sister carried her brothers lunches, and went along the serpent’s furrow. She walked and walked, and arrived in the serpent’s yard. Straight into his clutches.
The brothers returned from the field, and their sister was not there. They went to look for her.
They arrived at the serpent’s yard. The serpent left his yard to meet them:
“Has fighting come to me, or peace-making?” asked the serpent.
“Fighting!” answered the brothers.
“Then go under the iron oak, and we will measure your strength. I can’t stand the human spirit!”
They went. In the middle of the dragon’s yard stood the tall oak tree. It’s trunk and leaves were of iron and swung in the air, ringing.
The dragon leapt upon the brothers, hitting them with all of his serpent might, immediately driving them deep into the earth, into the serpent’s dungeon. There he locked them…
Mother and father waited and waited, and their sons didn’t return. One consolation remained- the younger son. He found a pea, and planted it in the ground.
Look- a huge bush is growing! And on that bush- a pod. Only one. And in it is a little pea, also only one. And not a simple one, but an enchanted one. The boy reached for the pod, and plucked it.
The pea fell out of the pod, and rolled. The boy ran after it, caught it, and ate it. From that moment, he was known as Kotyhoroshko [note: literal translation is “pea roller”].
Kotyhoroshko grew up not in days, but in hours. In a week he was taller than his father.
One time his father was digging a well and happened upon a big stone. He went to call people for help in pulling out the stone. While father was gone, Kotyhoroshko pulled the stone from the ground with one hand. When the people arrived, they were amazed!
When Kotyhoroshko perceived his power, he decided to go and rescue his brothers and sister.
He went to the blacksmith, and asked that he forge him a bulava [note: a bulava (булава) is a Ukrainian ceremonial mace which resembles a morningstar]. The blacksmith forged it.
Kotyhoroshko swung the bulava, flinging it up into the sky, and said:
“I will lie down to sleep and you, father, will wake me up once 12 days have passed, when the bulava will fall back down”.
On the twelfth day the bulava flew buzzing as it cut through the air.
The father woke up his son. He took hold of himself, and placed his fist. The bulava hit his fist and broke in half.
“No, with such a bulava I cannot go to the serpent.”
He went again to the blacksmith and asked:
“Reforge the bulava, so that it will be stronger.”
He reforged the bulava.
Kotyhoroshko again threw the bulava and went to sleep. After twelve days the bulava returned to him, hit against his fist, and was only bent a little bit.
“Finally with this bulava I will go to the serpent!” said Kotyhoroshko.
Kotyhoroshko bid farewell to his mother and father and went along that furrow which his brothers and sister had never returned from following. Despite grass already growing over the furrow it was still visible, and led Kotyhoroshko to the serpent’s yard.
“What do you want?” hissed the serpent. “I can’t stand the human spirit! Has fighting or peace come to me?”
“Fighting! I want to free my brothers and sister!”
“You will find only your death” hissed the serpent.
They went to the iron oak. The serpent whistled and leaves fell from the tree, ringing like bells all around.
And Kotyhoroshko said:
“When I whistle, your eyes may climb up to your forehead [note: similar to saying someone’s eyes rolled back in their head, meaning Kotyhoroshko is saying the serpent will die when he whistles]. It would be better to close them.”
The serpent closed his eyes. And Kotyhoroshko hit the dragon on the forehead with his bulava.
“How well did I whistle?” asked Kotyhoroshko.
“You speak the truth, my eyes almost rolled up to my forehead!” said the serpent fearfully. “Perhaps, we can make peace?”
“No, fighting!” answered Kotyhoroshko.
They began to fight. Our hero grabbed the serpent and threw it! The serpent hit the tree and split the trunk in two, pinching the serpent’s tail. And the tree trunk is iron, he will not break free.
Kotyhoroshko left the serpent, and went to free his brothers from their prison. He bent the prison bars, and led the captives out to freedom. They didn’t recognise their younger brother because he had grown so quickly.
Meanwhile the serpent uprooted the oak, grabbed Kotyhoroshko’s sister, and flew away. The oak was heavy and dragged along the ground, leaving a trail.
Kotyhoroshko and his brothers went to the iron oak tree, to pass judgement on the serpent and punish it.
They looked- no oak, no serpent. Then they saw- flying high in the sky, the serpent carrying their sister. They rushed to catch up with it.
So they ran along the trail left by the oak, and saw before themselves a deep pit. The bottom was not visible. The brothers were scared, they did not want to climb into the pit.
“I will climb,” said Kotyhoroshko, “lower me down”.
They wove their belts together to make a long rope. Kotyhoroshko wound the end of the rope around his hand and began to descend.
Kotyhoroshko descended and went straight into the underworld. Look- a great palace stands there. Around him, gold and precious stones- everything was sparkling.
His sister ran to meet him:
“Run fast,” she says. “The serpent is pulling his tail from the oak, he will kill you. He has already killed many brave men”.
“He won’t kill me! It was I who pinched his tail. Lead me to him!”
And meanwhile the serpent had pulled his tail from the oak. He saw Kotyhoroshko and asked:
“So you’ve come again? Fighting or peace making?”
“Fighting,” replied Kotyhoroshko.
Once Kotyhoroshko hit it with his bulava- the serpent was driven into the stone up to his knees. A second time he hit it- driving it into the stone up to its waist. A third time he hit it- it was killed completely.
Kotyhoroshko took three sacks of gold and three sacks of precious stones, and went with his sister to the pit in which he had descended into the underground kingdom.
They arrived. Kotyhoroshko shouts:
“Hey, you, good young men! Lower the rope, pull us up!
The brothers lowered the rope, and Kotyhoroshko first tied the gold and stones to it.
Again Kotyhoroshko shouted:
“Let the rope down again, good young men! It returns your sister to you. Lift it carefully!”
It was not for free that the brothers lived in the serpent’s kingdom. Unnoticeably to themselves, they had picked up the spirit of the serpent. In their heads it was darkened.
“Why should we pull him up?” they said. “There is six of us and we didn’t defeat the serpent, but only one of him and he did. Our people will laugh at us. If we leave him then all the good will come to us.”
Kotyhoroshko guessed what had caused the delay. He understood that that they had evil thoughts about him. He tied a boulder to the rope and shouted:
“Pull me up!”
The brothers pulled the boulder up high and let go of the rope. The boulder fell down. Kotyhoroshko became angry. “I have lovely brothers!” he thought.
He had to return to the underground kingdom. Suddenly clouds filled the sky, the sound of thunder hit him, and rain fell with hail. Kotyhoroshko hid under a tree. He heard baby birds chirping in a nest. Small eagles. The rain was flooding their nest.
He climbed the tree, took off his shirt, and covered the baby birds with it.
As the rain stopped, an eagle flew down.
“Was it you that saved my babies from death?” it asked. “How can I thank you?”
“Take me above,” asked Kotyhoroshko.
Kotyhoroshko sat on the eagle, and they flew high above the ground. Soon he could see his hometown.
Kotyhoroshko went to house and heard his brothers asking his mother:
“Where is our younger brother?”
“He grew and became strong, and went to rescue you”.
At this time the serpent’s spirit left the minds of the brothers. They became ashamed.
“It was our brother that saved us. And we abandoned him. We must go quickly to pull him up and rescue him.”
Now Kotyhoroshko went into the house and said:
“I escaped by myself.”
The brothers asked Kotyhoroshko for forgiveness. He gave it to them. In their joy they started to celebrate, glorifying Kotyhoroshko. And we too praise him, a brave man, an obedient son, and a faithful brother- we glorify him.
Original text can be found at: https://xn--80aaukc.xn--j1amh/kotigoroshko2.html (Unfortunately WordPress seems to struggle with Cyrillic characters in URLs)